Intergalactic Tea

A few months ago, Intergalactic Tea began offering a mystery bag of teas called the ‘Surprise Me, Bro’ gift bag. It reminded me of a party favor we’d get when attending a friend’s birthday as children. Instead of candies, this had an assortment of teas. The first and only tea I’ve had from has been the Chen Pi White Tea. I drank this in a large gaiwan and tossed it into a mug during work on Tuesday. I only noted on the packet, “floral, orange leather.” I think I liked it? I forgot to add a rating.

Grandpa Style!

This is the first tea from Intergalactic that I’ve been a little underwhelmed by. Maybe my expectations were too high after the last couple teas, but I just found this shou pu’erh to be a little bit flat/bland. It does have a very, very approachable and clean soil/earth notes and just a hint of a fruitiness to it, but mostly I found it sort of lacked character. It did make a decent enough option to mindlessly sip while working on some boring data entry type stuff while working from home.

Yeah, I think my verdict (based on this first impression anyway) is that this is a good “desk mate” type of pu’erh or, possibly, a really safe entry point pu’erh to someone who’s been turned off by the “fishy” taste of shou pu’erh or really aggressive earthiness.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4fs9mOA2Y/?img_index=3 (3rd & 4th Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zaapnXxd-A

Gongfu!

Tasting another tea this afternoon! This time, I’m steeping a unique post-fermented Japanese tea called Go Stone. Looking at the beautiful compressed tablets of tea, I can’t help but think they look a bit like the flaky layers of laminated pastry. The taste probably couldn’t be farther from pastry if it tried, though!

I’m not very well versed with goishicha so I don’t know if these tasting notes are in line with what is typical, but to me this tea is wildly funky with a really wide spread of flavours ranging from decaying Autumn leaves to tart and tangy lemon and honey mead. The flavour I keep latching on to is one that has been very consistent from infusion to infusion, and that’s this really dry, yeasty apple cider note. It took me a moment to place it, but this past Summer I got to do an incredible cider tasting in British Columbia at Sea Cider House and I think what it’s reminding me of is the Wild English Cider from their heirloom series. Really robust, heavy fermentation with a lot of dry, earthy notes.

I could 100% see this not being a tea for everyone as the flavours are so peculiar, but I’m having such a nice time sipping through this incredibly strange tea! So far, I’m a firm “two for two” out of the teas I’ve tried from Intergalactic Tea – everything has been so accurate to what they’ve described, and just really flavourful!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyMRZCeuMUp/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTaPbV7qWs

Gongfu!

As I noted last time I had a session of this tea, the aroma coming off the cake is very unassuming but the moment the water hits the leaf it really comes to life!! This smooth ripe pu’erh is definitely on the decadent side, with notes of highly aromatic Bourbon Vanilla alongside a more earthy, grounding foundation and a current of caramel-like richness that runs through each steep, weaving them together with a dark, heavy sweetness. It was a pleasure to revisit this tea! As I said last time, the concept of a pu’erh pressed in this way would be easy to write off as a gimmick, but once you’ve had a taste it’s easy to see that the reality of this pu’erh is that it’s anything but!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3duXvIuTa0/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX5NIs8bV54

Gongfu!

Started my morning with a really special session of this shou pu’erh!! What made it so special? Well, anyone who knows me even kind of well knows that I LOVE anything weird and experimental. So, when Intergalactic Tea reached out to see if I’d have an interest in reviewing this 100g mini cake of ripe pu’erh that had been pressed with vanilla bean, I was immediately on board!

Though the appearance and aroma of the dry, compressed cake were somewhat unassuming, that changed pretty much as soon as the water hit the leaves. It started subtle, but soon my tea space was filled with a near intoxicating combination of authentic vanilla and petrichor. So aromatic!! The liquor was rich and smooth with a dense, almost caramelized sweetness to compliment the earthiness of the tea itself. The vanilla bean in the cake was immediately apparent, and not just because I could taste it either. I started noticing the vanilla caviar in my gaiwan, chahai, and teacup as early as the rinse – scroll through to the last photo to see what I mean. This never really stopped during the session, though, by the third steep, much of the bourbon vanilla flavour had subsided. What was left was still so pleasant – thick and earthy but with date, caramel, and petrichor flavours. A little chicory to the top notes.

This was genuinely such a cool experience. I would have loved trying this tea just for the novelty of it, but there’s also more than JUST novelty here. The tea is really good!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/ros_strange/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgyNTvovQTg